anterior vs next

anterior

adj
  • Nearer the forward end, especially in the front of the body; nearer the head or forepart of an animal. 

  • Pronounced with an obstruction located in front of the palato-alveolar region of the mouth, e.g. b, p, d, t. 

  • (of a part of a flower or leaf) Situated further away from the mainstem. 

  • Coming before or earlier in time or development, prior to, preceding. 

next

adj
  • Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining. 

  • Nearest in order, succession, or rank; immediately following (or sometimes preceding) in order. 

  • Nearest in relationship. (See also next of kin.) 

adv
  • In a time, place, rank or sequence closest or following. 

  • On the first subsequent occasion. 

  • So as to follow in time or sequence something previously mentioned. 

det
  • Closest in the future, or closest but one if the closest is very soon; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) in the future. 

  • Denotes the one immediately following the current or most recent one. 

noun
  • The one that follows after this one. 

How often have the words anterior and next occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )